This is an engraving of an image of the Rotherhithe entrance to the Thames Tunnel, with a handwritten inscription: ‘Thames Tunnel Invention + under the construction of Sir Isambart Brunel F.R.S.—’.
The engraving was produced by John Shury, a printer working from premises at 16 Charterhouse Street; Shury also produced letterheads with the same image, and versions of the image with French and German captions. As the print does not include information on the date the Tunnel opened, it is likely the print dates to just prior to opening, around 1841-2. Whether Shury was commissioned by the Thames Tunnel Company to produce these prints is unclear but he had, notably, previously carried out work for scientist and friend of the Brunels, Michael Faraday.[1]
The manuscript annotation is in an unknown hand. It is not that of Marc Brunel, his wife Sophia Kingdom, or son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Given the print comes directly from the Brunel family’s collection, the hand may plausibly be that of Brunel’s daughter Sophia. The annotation must have been written after March 1841, when Marc Brunel was knighted; it seems likely that the caption, which refers to the Tunnel as ‘under […] construction’ also dates to 1841-2 rather than postdating the Tunnel’s completion. Another version of this print, inscribed by Marc Brunel to one Mrs. Horsford, is known, dated 4 sept. 1843.[2] This may suggest that the family retained and signed a number of such prints.
References
[1] The Correspondence of Michael Faraday, ed. by Frank A. J. L. James, 6 vols (London: Institution of Engineering and Technology, 1991-2011), vol. 1, p. 221 [Letter 147] (Richard Phillips to Faraday, 4 Sept. 1821, where Shury is recommended to Faraday but described as a ‘civil but rather a stupid dog’).
[2] The London Archives, SC/GL/PR/S3/THA/M0008211CL.